Paint an Easy Watercolor Mountain Landscape for Beginners

Paint an easy watercolor mountain landscape for beginners in this step-by-step tutorial. Learn the best way to paint mountain scenery in this simple online art lesson.

Practice painting a snow-capped mountain range and learn all the tips and tricks to making watercolor painting easier. Creating peaks in the distance has never been simpler.

Find out the proper brush strokes and techniques to use when painting this and other nature scenes. Learn about the best colors to help make your artwork look more realistic.

In this quick online video art class, practice basic line making, watercolor washes, and blending pigment. Discover the joy and solace you can find in taking the time to create a natural mountainscape.

Don’t worry if your painting is not perfect. It is all about trying new techniques and repeating your new skills over and over again.

Just keep practicing. And have fun doing it!

Materials

• Watercolor paper - I am using Strathmore 400 Series watercolor paper, 140 lb., cut down to 6 by 9 inches
• Watercolor paint - tube watercolor paint on a pallet or a box kit of watercolor paints.
• Paint brushes - I am using a #4 round and a flat 1/2” brush 
• Water 
• Paper towels

Video Tutorial

Transcript

[read more]Hi there. Join me in painting an easy watercolor mountain landscape in this art lesson. 

Start by sketching in the mountain and if you'd like you can refer to the photo that I have on the website, on my website at Artlooklearn.com. 

Keep your lines nice and light so that the pencil doesn't show through the paint. I'm actually making my lines darker so that they can be seen on the camera but make sure you keep your lines nice and light. 

Start by painting the sky using a wet-on-wet technique. So I'm going to fill in the sky area with clean water just to dampen the entire area. After the sky is wet, paint in streaks of blue.

I'm using cerulean blue. So the sky is kind of, streaked with clouds and with blue sky intermixed. I'm just adding in streaks of blue and then leaving the sky the color of the paper. And after I've added the blue I am just going to kind of go back in and soften the edges of the blue.

Using just clean water on my brush just soften those those edges to get a nice soft transition between the, the blue and the white. When this dries it will appear even even softer. 

Now I've mixed together a black and Prussian blue and using that to paint the mountains in the distance. I start by painting in a squiggly line. 

As well as a little bit of definition at the tops of the mountains. Down from that squiggly line, I'm just adding some other lines to indicate the craggy mountain peaks.

Rinsing out my brush and then just using the pigment that's already on the paper I'm going to pull out that color and just make it a nice soft wash. I'll leave some parts with a hard defined line and then pull out some of the pigment to make a nice light wash. 

Now that little area right there I just got a little bit too crazy, got some of the mountain color up into the sky so I just used my clean paintbrush to pull that right off.

Adding a few more washes here and there I'm going to work each section of the mountain separately. So working on the next section repeating the same idea the squiggly line 

Cleaning my paintbrush and then just using the pigment that's already on the paper. Making more squiggly lines down from it making, starting to define all these craggly, craggy peaks and then pulling the washes out from those lines. 

Then adding a few more washes here and there as I see fit. I've obviously edited this video so it doesn't take forever to watch it. But just keep in mind that it did take me, even with a lot of practice in this composition, it took me a lot of time. So take your time in creating this mountain landscape. 

Now, I've mixed together some ultramarine blue, cadmium yellow, and black and watered it down quite a bit to make this nice sage green wash. So I've gone ahead and painted in this entire middle ground area with the green. 

In the foreground I've made a wash with yellow ochre and I'm just going to go ahead and paint that in in the entire foreground area.

Now the middle ground should be a little bit dry so I'm going to go back in. I added a little bit more black to my green mixture.

So I can add in the definition now, the more details in this middleground area.  I'm hitting the top of this green mountain, first with the the dark green, black-green mix and I'm going to pull that out to make a nice soft wash and soft transition.

Repeating the technique I used above, painting in a squiggly line to define the craggy peaks of the mountain and lines coming down.

And then I will rinse out my brush and then using the pigment that's just on the paper pull some of that pigment out to make a nice light wash. And again, working each section of the mountain at a time.

So there I rinsed out my paintbrush and then just pulling out those washes. You could experiment using different types of brushes here. I prefer the round for a lot of my watercolor work. 

You could try using a flat brush, using the edge of a flat brush, up to you. 

All right, and thanks to the magic of Television, here we have the middle foreground completed. 

Now I've added just a little bit more blue and yellow into that same green mixture to brighten it up a little bit. I'm using that to go into the foreground and add some more detail.

Just hitting the tops of those hills a little bit. And a little bush peeking over the edge of the hill. And a few little trees.

Now I'm going in with some yellow, lightening up that green color.

Oop, that's actually a lot darker than I want it so I'm going to just lift that paint off using a, the clean edge of my paper towel wrapped around my finger. I'm just going to lift that paint off. Now adding more yellow and just a teeny bit of green.

You can see here, I did switch to the flat paint brush so I can cover a little bit more area more quickly.

I'm blending out the edges of that yellow and then blending, just barely blending the areas where the yellow and green meet. Make sure you don't over-blend your colors.

Because you could end up with a big muddy mess if you if you are over blending. So just a teeny bit to soften the edges for the two colors meet. 

Now I've mixed together some cadmium red light and cadmium yellow to make a nice orange color. I'm just adding it in a few little areas.

I'm going in with that yellowish green again as well. Then just lightly blending them together.

Don't be afraid of using too much color because remember that watercolors will dry a little bit lighter than they are when they're wet. 

Now using a dark green, I'm just going in and adding a few little low lights to these trees and that bush. 

That will also help give a focal point to this painting. You always want to have a focal point, a place for the viewer's eyes to kind of rest. 

And now using yellow ochre I'm going to add one more little tree here in the foreground. And repeat that color up on the hill as well and blend it in.

I'm using burnt sienna now to add just a few little low lights to this little orange tree.

And that's it. If you like this video please make sure to like, subscribe, and visit Artlooklearn.com for more great art lessons. Thanks for watching. [/read]

Art Lesson

1. Getting Started

• Add a few drops of water to each of the colors. For this lesson I use cadmium red light, cadmium yellow, yellow ocher, burnt Sienna, Prussian blue, ultramarine blue, and black. You can use whatever similar colors that you have on hand.
• Lightly sketch in the mountain scene. If you like, refer to the photo in the lesson downloads or follow along with the tutorial.

2. Paint the sky

• Apply clean water to the entire sky area for this wet-on-wet technique. Paint Cerulean blue streaks into the damp sky. Leave some streaks of white paper for the clouds. 
• Gently blend the blue into the white for a smooth gradation between the sky and clouds.

3. Paint the mountain peaks in the distance

• Combine Prussian blue and black. Working one section of the mountain at a time, paint irregular squiggly lines on the tops of the mountain ranges. Add lines coming down from the top of the peak. 
• Rinse out the paintbrush and use clean water to blend the paint out into a light wash. Leave a hard edge on one side of the line while pulling the pigment out into a light wash on the other side. 
• Repeat this process for the rest of the ridges in the mountain range.
• Paint the blue-black mixture on the tops of the mountain peaks to indicate craggy rocks or trees peeking out from the snow-capped mountain.

4. Paint the green hilly mountain in the middle ground

• Mix ultramarine blue, cadmium yellow, and black to make sage green. Dilute it with water and paint the entire middle ground mountain area. While this area dries, move to the painting in the foreground.
• Dilute yellow ocher paint with water and paint in the foreground.
• Add some details in the green middle ground area. Add a little more black paint to the sage-green mixture. 
• Add several strips of dark green paint to the tops of the green mountain. With a clean damp brush, blend the color out toward the bottom of the painting.
• Using the same technique as in the snowy mountains in the distance, paint irregular squiggly lines on the tops of the mountain ranges. 
• Add lines coming down from the top of the peak. Rinse the paintbrush and use clean water to blend the paint out into a wash.

5. Paint the grassy hills in the foreground

• Brighten up the sage green paint by adding more yellow and blue. Add a few strips of this green in the foreground. Then add several strips of yellow paint mixed with just a touch of green. 
• Gently blend out the edges of the yellow and blend the green and yellow edges where they meet. Make sure not to over-blend the colors.
• Mix cadmium red light and cadmium yellow to make orange and paint this in several areas on the right side.
• Use green paint to daub in several trees and a bush on the right side.
• Paint in a tree using yellow ocher on the left-hand side. Paint several areas with the same color on the hill on the left side of the painting. 
• Add a few daubs of dark green into the trees and bush. Drop in several spots of burnt Sienna to the orange tree to complete the low lights.

Tips and tricks

• Do not over-blend the colors. This could result in a muddy painting or washed-out colors.
• Let the washes in the middle ground (the greenish peak) and the foreground (the grassy hill) dry slightly before you add more detail.
• Use large paint brushes for large areas and small brushes for smaller areas or details.
• Lift off any mistakes or excess paint with a clean paintbrush or paper towel wrapped o a point around your finger.
• Paint lighter colors in the distance and darker colors in the foreground to create a greater sense of dimension in the painting.
• Use both sides of your watercolor paper when practicing new skills and techniques.

Paint an Easy Watercolor Mountain Landscape for Beginners

Paint an easy watercolor mountain landscape for beginners in this step-by-step tutorial. Learn the best way to paint mountain scenery in this simple online art lesson. Practice painting a snow-capped mountain range and learn all the tips and tricks to making watercolor painting easier. Creating peaks in the distance has never been simpler.

Equipment

• Watercolor paper - I am using Strathmore 400 Series watercolor paper, 140 lb., cut down to 6 by 9 inches
• Watercolor paint - tube watercolor paint on a pallet or a box kit of watercolor paints.
• Paint brushes - I am using a #4 round and a flat 1/2” brush
• Water
• Paper towels

Instructions

Getting Started

• Add a few drops of water to each of the colors. For this lesson I use cadmium red light, cadmium yellow, yellow ocher, burnt Sienna, Prussian blue, ultramarine blue, and black. You can use whatever similar colors that you have on hand.
• Lightly sketch in the mountain scene. If you like, refer to the photo in the lesson downloads or follow along with the tutorial.

Paint the sky

• Apply clean water to the entire sky area for this wet-on-wet technique. Paint Cerulean blue streaks into the damp sky. Leave some streaks of white paper for the clouds.
• Gently blend the blue into the white for a smooth gradation between the sky and clouds.

Paint the mountain peaks in the distance

• Combine Prussian blue and black. Working one section of the mountain at a time, paint irregular squiggly lines on the tops of the mountain ranges. Add lines coming down from the top of the peak.
• Rinse out the paintbrush and use clean water to blend the paint out into a light wash. Leave a hard edge on one side of the line while pulling the pigment out into a light wash on the other side.
• Repeat this process for the rest of the ridges in the mountain range.
• Paint the blue-black mixture on the tops of the mountain peaks to indicate craggy rocks or trees peeking out from the snow-capped mountain.

Paint the green hilly mountain in the middle ground

• Mix ultramarine blue, cadmium yellow, and black to make sage green. Dilute it with water and paint the entire middle ground mountain area. While this area dries, move to the painting in the foreground.
• Dilute yellow ocher paint with water and paint in the foreground.
• Add some details in the green middle ground area. Add a little more black paint to the sage-green mixture.
• Add several strips of dark green paint to the tops of the green mountain. With a clean damp brush, blend the color out toward the bottom of the painting.
• Using the same technique as in the snowy mountains in the distance, paint irregular squiggly lines on the tops of the mountain ranges.
• Add lines coming down from the top of the peak. Rinse the paintbrush and use clean water to blend the paint out into a wash.

Paint the grassy hills in the foreground

• Brighten up the sage green paint by adding more yellow and blue. Add a few strips of this green in the foreground. Then add several strips of yellow paint mixed with just a touch of green.
• Gently blend out the edges of the yellow and blend the green and yellow edges where they meet. Make sure not to over-blend the colors.
• Mix cadmium red light and cadmium yellow to make orange and paint this in several areas on the right side.
• Use green paint to daub in several trees and a bush on the right side.
• Paint in a tree using yellow ocher on the left-hand side. Paint several areas with the same color on the hill on the left side of the painting.
• Add a few daubs of dark green into the trees and bush. Drop in several spots of burnt Sienna to the orange tree to complete the low lights.

Notes

Do not over-blend the colors. This could result in a muddy painting or washed-out colors.

Let the washes in the middle ground (the greenish peak) and the foreground (the grassy hill) dry slightly before you add more detail.

Use large paint brushes for large areas and small brushes for smaller areas or details.

Lift off any mistakes or excess paint with a clean paintbrush or paper towel wrapped o a point around your finger.

Paint lighter colors in the distance and darker colors in the foreground to create a greater sense of dimension in the painting.

Use both sides of your watercolor paper when practicing new skills and techniques.

Lesson Downloads

For More Practice

• Use different brush techniques to paint mountains, see the complete lesson.
• Practice painting a different mountain scene from life or a photo.
• Imagine this landscape during a different season. What would be different in the winter or spring? Try painting bright spring leaves and grasses or bare winter branches. 
• Try painting the same image in a different style such as cubism, minimalism, or surrealism.

What to Do with Your Painting

This is a perfect painting to frame and display on your wall. It would also make a wonderful gift for any holiday or special occasion.

Another option is to add this mountain landscape painting to your portfolio. It is a good idea to save completed paintings, drawings, and sketches. This helps you clearly see your progression as an artist.

Frequently Asked Questions

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Please leave your questions, comments, and ratings below!